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Duo Vector, Spiegelworld
Photograph: Tom DonoghueDuo Vector, Spiegelworld

Preview: Spiegelworld—Empire

The glamorous and decadent Spiegeltent returns to New York.

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Every summer from 2006 to ’08, Australian producer Ross Mollison and his partners brought a spiegeltent—a moveable performance venue popular in early 20th-century Europe—to the South Street Seaport. The vibe and lineup were decidedly downtown, with the NC-17 circus show Absinthe as its centerpiece. Then Mollison got an offer he couldn’t refuse: a chance to bring the revue to Las Vegas. “We did a deal with a casino called the Fontainebleau Resort,” he says ruefully. “We were building a multimillion-dollar showroom. It was really, really cool…and unfortunately about halfway through, the recession hit.”

While Absinthe eventually found a permanent home in Vegas outside of Caesars Palace, the experience left quite an impression on Mollison and his cohorts. In fact, the decline and near fall of our decadent society is the underlying theme of Spiegelworld: Empire, a brand-new adults-only variety show set to debut this summer at Spiegeltent (rechristened, yes, Spiegelworld).

Structurally, Spiegelworld is the same as ever: a “tent of mirrors” constructed of wooden panels, cut glass, velvet and thousands of intricate pieces that fit together sans nails or glue. But other aspects are different. It’s now located in the heart of midtown, in an empty lot on West 45th Street steps away from “legitimate” Broadway houses. And unlike prior Spiegeltents, which featured a rotating roster of entertainment throughout the day and night, Empire will be the sole offering.

Mollison insists these changes aren’t compromises; they’re by design. “We always felt that having Spiegeltent at the South Street Seaport—beautiful as the location was—hindered our sales,” he says. “We waited to come back to New York until we could find a space that would allow us to bring our downtown sensibility to the uptown market. Also, having all of those other programs was a distraction from our core show. We want Empire to be the provocative main event.”

Devised and directed by Wayne Harrison, former artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, Empire has a loose plot about a down-on-his-luck impresario (“a cross between Ziegfeld and myself,” jokes Mollison) trying to commission one last extravaganza. The acts run the gamut from circus to cabaret, burlesque to vaudeville, but each one is meant to evoke specific New York City street characters. These include the homeless musician Moondog, who wandered Manhattan dressed as Thor until his death in 1999; Carrot Man, a British bloke with a Snooki tan who used to sell vegetable peelers in Union Square; and the colorful activists of the Occupy Wall Street movement in Zuccotti Park. Lest that description sound a bit pretentious for what is essentially a sexy circus show, Harrison is clear: “Empire isn’t overloaded with narrative or metaphor or message. We’re just giving the acts a context.”

Since mystery and surprise are part of the appeal, neither Harrison nor Mollison offer any information about the routines or even share the names of the performers, who hail from the U.S., China, Australia, Ethiopia, Japan, France and beyond. They do repeatedly drop words like risqué, unique and in your face to describe the event—adjectives that applied equally to Absinthe. “It’s a very intimate and interactive experience,” explains Harrison. “The audience really becomes part of the show. I try not to clutter things up with too much material. Instead I strip away. We’re like the anti–Cirque du Soleil: We don’t add anything to our performers. They might start out in amazing costumes—designed by Angus Strathie—but when they do their acts, they end up not wearing very much at all.”

Considering that the irreverent Book of Mormon and kinkfest Venus in Fur are bona fide Broadway hits, it’s clear that mainstream theatergoers aren’t as easily scandalized as they used to be. So Mollison’s betting that seen-it-all locals, suburbanites and tourists alike will embrace Empire—especially once they get two or three drinks in them from the carnival-style bar. “It’s no-rules theater,” boasts Mollison. “You have to do an awful lot to get thrown out of Spiegelworld. If we have a motto, it’s ‘incredibly beautiful exciting stupid fun.’ ” He pauses for a moment and then chuckles. “I guess we’ll have to give that to the branding department.”

Spiegelworld: Empire is playing at Spiegelworld through Sept 2.

Related:

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